Past Sexual Misconduct Cases Show McConnell Is Willing to Take a Tough Line

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Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky, at a news conference with Senator Larry Craig of Idaho, who had been arrested days earlier in an undercover sex sting, in June 2007.CreditDoug Mills/The New York Times

Now, with a maelstrom engulfing Roy S. Moore after another woman from Alabama accused him on Monday of sexually assaulting her when she was a teenager, Mr. McConnell, Republican of Kentucky and the majority leader, may face his most difficult test yet on how to manage a highly combustible combination of sex and politics.

Mr. Moore, the former Alabama Supreme Court judge and state prosecutor, is a candidate for the Senate, not a sitting senator, limiting the authority and leverage of Mr. McConnell and his Republican colleagues over Mr. Moore. Should Mr. Moore be elected, they would face the prospect of welcoming him into the Senate, an unthinkable outcome to those who fear being forever associated with Mr. Moore.

They could also refuse to seat him in the Senate, generating criticism that they were thwarting the will of voters who backed Mr. Moore despite knowledge of the accusations against him. They could refer his case to the ethics committee. Or they could immediately vote to expel him as Senator Cory Gardner, the Colorado Republican who leads the party’s Senate campaign effort, suggested Monday, saying Mr. Moore did not meet the Senate’s ethical or moral standards.

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Mr. McConnell, then the chairman of the ethics committee, and Senator Richard Bryan presenting volumes of the panel’s investigation into Senator Bob Packwood in September 1995. Mr. Packwood announced his resignation shortly after.CreditJohn Duricka/Associated Press

Faced with mounting public focus on Mr. Moore, Mr. McConnell sought this week to increase the pressure on the Alabama candidate by making it quite clear that he accepted the accounts of the now five women who said that Mr. Moore made overtures to them when they were teenagers. The latest woman, Beverly Young Nelson, provided a graphic account of how, at age 16, she was groped by Mr. Moore, then 30, who tried to force himself on her after offering to give her a ride home from the restaurant where she was working as a waitress.

Mr. McConnell’s decision to declare that “I believe the women, yes” removed one of the final lines of defense some Washington Republicans were standing behind — that Mr. Moore should step aside if the allegations were proven. Mr. McConnell’s pronouncement made it clear that the accounts were as good as proven in his eyes and increased the prospect that Mr. Moore would face a significant challenge to joining the Senate even if he prevails in the election on Dec. 12. A parade of new calls from Republican senators for Mr. Moore to bow out followed.

“He’s obviously not fit to be in the United States Senate,” Mr. McConnell told reporters on Tuesday.

Expelling Mr. Moore could present an advantage to Senate Republicans since it could create a vacancy and set off another special election in Alabama, giving the party a chance to find a new candidate. The uproar over his candidacy is also providing Mr. McConnell and his allies with evidence that the effort to oust establishment Senate Republicans being led by Stephen K. Bannon, the former adviser to President Trump, could be disastrous if Mr. Moore is an example of who they intend to support.

But the fight over Mr. Moore could also elicit a harsh backlash from conservative activists aligned with Mr. Bannon and deepen the party split that is already looming as an obstacle in the 2018 midterm elections.

Republicans are also weighing the potential of a write-in campaign behind an alternative candidate. It worked for Senator Lisa Murkowski in Alaska in 2010, but such successes are exceedingly rare. A write-in campaign by a Republican could split the party vote and bolster the chances of the Democratic candidate, Doug Jones, a former federal prosecutor. Mr. Jones could also win outright, a result that could solve many thorny problems for Mr. McConnell but would leave Republicans with one fewer seat and a narrow 51-49 majority when they are already struggling.

Mr. McConnell does not appreciate such complications. When Mr. Craig was arrested and pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct in the airport sting, Mr. McConnell set out to prevent him from even returning to the Capitol to avoid a spectacle. The leadership stripped Mr. Craig of his committee leadership positions and made clear that if he decided to return, he would face additional ethics scrutiny.

Mr. Craig quickly announced he would resign his Senate seat. He then reneged and decided to serve out his term, but the ethics committee admonished him for his behavior and he was treated as an outcast by many of his colleagues.

In the Packwood case, Mr. McConnell delivered findings on the Senate floor, describing his colleague’s “physical coercion” of women and “a habitual pattern of aggressive, blatantly sexual advances, mostly directed at members of his own staff or others whose livelihoods were connected in some way to his power and authority as a senator.” Republicans ultimately lost that seat after Mr. Packwood’s resignation.

“I don’t think there has ever been a leader with a more aggressive no-tolerance policy toward sex abuse allegations,” said Josh Holmes, a former top aide to Mr. McConnell who remains a close adviser. “In his mind, there is no political calculation to make when this kind of thing arises. It’s far more important to protect the integrity of the Senate than the partisan makeup of its membership.”

Though he wanted Mr. Packwood gone, Mr. McConnell wanted it done his way. When Democrats pushed for public hearings that could embarrass Republicans, Mr. McConnell blocked the effort by threatening retaliatory hearings on various Democrats like Edward M. Kennedy.

Mr. McConnell is comfortable with those sorts of tactics. He is taking a tough line against Mr. Moore — and Moore supporters like Mr. Bannon — and appears ready to use the powers at his disposal to make sure Mr. Moore never serves in the Senate.

A version of this article appears in print on , on Page A14 of the New York edition with the headline: Past Misconduct Cases Show a Leader Willing to Take a Tough Line. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe